


second coming

by minimalcoloration



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Fear, Other, Silent Killer Grima
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 08:12:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14131881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minimalcoloration/pseuds/minimalcoloration
Summary: No words were needed, because the slow smile that graces her lips is nothing short of unnerving, and in the silence that lingers between them, Kiran knows.





	second coming

Kiran has seen the hue of her eyes before, in a man whose sole ambition was to devour the very ground they stand on, but her eyes are far different. It’s ethereal, the moment the dust clears, power seeping into the atmosphere like running water, engulfing the soles of their boots in a misty shadow that you’ve seen enough times before. This time it’s different, filled with patience, latent power pooling and remaining dormant, the air is bitterly cold, and they feel the goose bumps rise from their arms to the back of their neck in what seems to be a mysterious terror. Her footsteps are light, and if it weren’t for the hyperawareness that overtakes them when her shadow is visible, they wouldn’t have caught them. It’s like seeing a ghost manifest, the way she moves out of the shadows of her own power and into their sight, the silent strength pressing them down against the earth, and their eyes meet hers. Red, beautiful and otherworldly, glowing with a terror that embeds itself in the root of their stomach, the man that had come before was nothing like this, and the way she watches them in what seems to be a neutral curiosity only serves to heighten their fear.

The first one, brash and aggressive, had threatened them upon arrival, making his distaste known. He had not been easy to calm, prideful and vengeful, and Kiran remembers the anger that his gaze casts upon their form like a lingering phantom. The thought that he was not the only one had crossed their mind before, when Kiran was observing his well off female counterpart in the training towers, watching the way she effortlessly cast spells with a confidence well suited to her title, the way she constantly kept an eye out, the small motions that assures Kiran that she knows her own actions. Back then, the notion of possession- her possession- had been absurd, a woman with her caution, with her fortitude, had been an icon of strength in their eyes.Yet here, in what feels to be a realm beyond their existence, Kiran can’t find the urge to look away, to open their mouth in the lingering power that resides within the space between them. No words were needed, because the slow smile that graces her lips is nothing short of unnerving, and in the silence that lingers between them, Kiran knows.

Grima is nothing short of beautiful in the shadows that grace her presence, and the revelation has Kiran reeling.

Kiran dares not introduce her to their comrades, yet when they return to the lobby it feels as if all of their eyes are bearing down on their summoner’s morality. One was enough to set the heroes from Ylisse on edge, and when they think about the second, their heart drops in cold fear as they imagine the heated guise of anger that was a guarantee. The notion makes them sick, and they decide to carry themselves back to their room with a quickened pace. When the door locks behind them they collapse onto the floor and gaze up at the ceiling, but the only thing that they see is the red hue of a woman draped in violets.

A loud knock resounds in the echoing silence, and startles Kiran out of their dream as they scramble away from the door and to their feet. The handle is ice cold even through their leather gloves, and they hesitate, expecting the other Grima to manifest behind the door and close their eyes when they open it. There’s a huff and they open their eyes to see red, but the red that they see isn’t the same, and Grima- the male one- scowls, arms crossed. Kiran can feel the breath they’ve been holding in release, and even though it doesn’t make them smile, they let him in regardless, wordlessly.

There’s no need for a conversation, once the door closes he let’s his anger fester onto them in the form of violet shadows, eerily similar to the other but just enough different that it diffuses the ghost that haunts their thoughts for even a little bit. Grima knows, as they had expected, of the other one, and he was not pleased, also what they had expected. His eyes demand answers, and Kiran finally feels the release of fear as they make the motion for him to sit. Grima doesn’t take it, he rarely does unless he is in a particularly pleasant mood, but the as long as they make the effort they don’t really mind whether he takes it or not.

They only tell him what he wants to hear, the excuse as to why the foreboding ghost roams the halls in chilling silence, and when they finish he is quick to call them a fool and disappear out of their room into the halls. It’s not like they didn’t know, only a fool would commit the same mistake twice, would allow a dragon too similar in name and appearance to roam the halls, but Kiran has more in mind than the unease that follows. 

Kiran meets Grima again in the dead of night; they can’t sleep and instead choose to roam the library in hopes that the smell of timeworn books is enough to coax sleep from beneath their surface. At first, they are alone, skimming shelves filled with magical indexes for something that catches their eye, but the cool air that washes over the room sets them on edge. It was as if warmth had been stolen from underneath their feet, and they know whom this feeling belongs to. Grima lies in wait when they round the shelf, seated pretty in a chair toying with a copy of Nohrian Tactics. The moment Kiran takes a step in her direction her eyes are on them, and she smiles the same smile that haunts his thoughts; they freeze, clutching the book in hand tighter.

It’s like a stark contrast between night and day, the two dragons. Like an endless abyss, her gaze is hollow, and her smile knows, as if she has seen through their entire being at a moments glance. Where he is blinded by lust, by the primal instinct to lay waste to his ruined life, she is resolved. Within her lies resolution, the acceptance of fate, dormant. Kiran knows, by her counterpart, what she is capable of, yet she doesn’t act as he does, instead opting to wait in curious contentment. In him they see the wounds of millennia, the grasping of a soul long since buried; the resentment giving rise to extroverted aggression, a life. It is captivation in fear, as they stand over the seated woman whose shadows seem to bend and twist into dissolving particles of light, that has them deeply rooted in the library’s floor. It’s as if they are facing death in the eyes, watching as she flips pages mindlessly while her gaze rests with them, smile unfaltering in the barely illuminated prison.

They could die here, silently, grasping for life against her hands wringing them dry, within the shadows of night beneath the noses of everyone peacefully dozing. They won’t, they can’t hurt under contract, but the fear is there and they feel their heartbeat like war drums resounding through their body. It dawns on them, how vulnerable they are, that they want to run. She holds them rooted like a guard plants their prisoners deep into the dirt to keep them from society, and it is here, when she holds them in a wordless prison, that they feel the same nausea from before. As if taking notice, Grima stands abruptly, and when the nightmare ends, they run far beyond the halls that house a demon.

**Author's Note:**

> cross posted from tunglr.
> 
> @drivedef
> 
> I was on some stuff when I did this lol


End file.
